History on the Move

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"I was very fortunate that I came at a time when the university wanted to significantly increase its support of the Clements," says Graffagnino. He credits Teresa Sullivan, "a provost who really liked research libraries." Sullivan, now president of the University of Virginia, "increased the budget by about 45 percent," allowing him to hire the library's first development director, Ann Rock.

Fundraising was necessary. Though the university had also committed $10 million toward a renovation, estimates for the cost of the most basic updates to the building's structure and utilities "came out at $11.5 million," Graffagnino recalls. "So we needed a million and a half."

He turned first to the library's Associates Board of Governors. Members raise funds for acquisitions, serve as ambassadors for the Clements, and, says John Dann, "are a little bit of a sounding board for the director."

Led by local philanthropist Peter Heydon, the associates contributed $800,000. The Colorado-based Avenir Foundation, which had a longstanding relationship with Dann, put in $6 million. "Getting to $16.8 million allowed us to have the addition," Graffagnino says--two stories, underground, for storage and mechanicals.